| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Aircraft Carrier |
| Class | Argus |
| Pennant | D 49 |
| Built by | William Beardmore & Co. (Dalmuir, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | Jun 1914 |
| Launched | 2 Dec 1917 |
| Commissioned | 16 Sep 1918 |
| End service | |
| Loss position | |
| History | Former Italian passenger liner Conte Rosso, the ship's construction was suspended after the outbreak of World War I. She was purchased unlaunched in August 1916 and converted into an aircraft carrier, the World's first to have a full-length flight deck upon which wheeled aircraft could land and take-off with relative safety. As such, she established the general pattern for future aircraft carriers. Argus was commissioned in September 1918, shortly before the end of the Great War. She spent much of her first decade on the vital work of developing carrier techniques and training aviators in the demanding work of operating aircraft at sea. Her merchant ship hull, relatively small size and modest speed limited her utility as a combat ship, and she was superseded in fleet service as newer carriers were completed during the later 1920s. Laid up early in the next decade, she was later modified for use as mother ship for target aircraft and as a training carrier. Argus served in a training role during much of World War II, but the desperate circumstances of the first years of that conflict sometimes required that she see front-line service, notably in 1942, when she served with Force H and later supported the landings in North Africa. After further training duty, she was reduced to reserve in late 1943 and was hulked as an accomodations ship in August 1944. Argus was sold for scrapping on 5 December 1946. Finally scrapped at Inverkeithing in 1947. Commanding Officers: Commanding Officers: Capt. Edmund Gerard Noel Rushbrooke, DSC, RN Capt. Tom Oliver Bulteel, RN Capt. George Tothill Philip, DSC, RN Capt. Henry Lockhart St. John Fancourt, DSO, RN Capt. Villiers Nicholas Surtees, DSO, RN Capt. Robert Henry Campbell Crawford, OBE, RD, RNR Cdr. Alan Douglas Bruford, RNVR HMS Argus is not listed as active unit in the October 1945 Navy List |
Commands listed for HMS Argus (D 49)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. Henry Cecil Bovell, RN | 7 Oct 1939 | 16 Aug 1940 |
| 2 | Capt. Edmund Gerard Noel Rushbrooke, DSC, RN | 16 Aug 1940 | 12 Apr 1941 |
| 3 | Capt. Tom Oliver Bulteel, RN | 12 Apr 1941 | 29 Oct 1941 |
| 4 | Capt. George Tothill Philip, DSC, RN | 29 Oct 1941 | 15 Jan 1943 |
| 5 | Capt. Henry Lockhart St. John Fancourt, RN | 15 Jan 1943 | Sep 1943 |
| 6 | Capt. Villiers Nicholas Surtees, DSO, RN | Sep 1943 | 27 Jul 1944 |
| 7 | Capt. Robert Henry Campbell Crawford, OBE, RNR | 27 Jul 1944 | 20 Nov 1944 |
| 8 | Cdr. Alan Douglas Bruford, RNVR | 20 Nov 1944 | Jul 1945 ? |
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